The Justice Department has revealed it still has 5.2 million pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein to review and will need 400 lawyers from four different offices to complete the process through late January, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.
The scale of the review is likely to delay the final release of the documents well beyond a December 19 deadline set by Congress, the document said.
The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration ordered the Justice Department to release files tied to criminal probes of Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress last month. Epstein had social ties to U.S. President Donald Trump in the 1990s.
According to the document, the Criminal Division, the National Security Division, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan are collectively assigning 400 attorneys to review the material. The figure is more precise and potentially larger than previous estimates provided by the department.
The review is scheduled to take place from January 5 through January 23.
Department leaders are offering telework options and time-off awards as incentives for volunteers, the document said. Lawyers participating in the effort are expected to devote three to five hours a day to reviewing about 1,000 documents daily.
The Justice Department said last week it had uncovered more than 1 million additional documents potentially linked to Epstein.
So far, the disclosures have been heavily redacted, frustrating some Republicans and doing little to ease a controversy that threatens the party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The document release comes amid mounting criticism from lawmakers and Epstein survivors, who say the department has failed to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The law, approved by Congress with broad bipartisan support, requires all Epstein-related files to be made public, with limited redactions allowed to protect victims’ identities.
Several lawmakers have accused the Justice Department of releasing only a fraction of the required records, arguing that excessive redactions undermine the intent of the law and fuel public mistrust surrounding the handling of the Epstein case.
Trump has acknowledged knowing Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s but has said their relationship ended in the mid-2000s and that he was unaware of Epstein’s sexual abuse.
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. He was charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking in 2019. Epstein was later found dead in a New York jail, and his death was ruled a suicide.
In a message posted on X last week, the Justice Department said, “We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible. Due to the volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”